1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of package and article carriers with handles and straps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, when carrying several articles which have handles, a person has been required to carry only one article in each hand or to attempt to grasp more than one handle in one or both of his hands. This has been a particular problem in regard to luggage where it is difficult, due to the width of the suitcases and short length of the handles, to even bring two suitcase handles into proximity so that they can be grasped together, let alone maintain a grasp on the handles for carrying the suitcases. Another problem is picking up cases of different sizes, and setting them down without dropping the smaller one.
Various means have been proposed for providing packaging and handles for articles, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,453 to Stewart, U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,154 to Engle, and British Pat. No. 372,055 to Chichester-Miles. None of these devices, however, provides means for accommodating a plurality of handles, such as luggage handles on items of luggage of different sizes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,417 to Yorty shows a flexible strap carrying device for a plurality of articles such as garments supported on hangers. The Yorty device includes a continuous strap which can only be fitted over handles having an open end, such as coat hanger hooks, and therefore is inappropriate for articles having closed handles such as luggage. In addition, the Yorty device is more complex than those presently disclosed herein in that a buckle arrangement is required for the strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,658,174 to Russell shows a pair of interfitting luggage handles on one piece of luggage or a briefcase. For carrying purposes, a convex surface of one of the handles interfits with a concave surface of the other handle. The Russell patent discloses the alternate possibility of the concave surface of the one being placed together with the convex surface of a handle of another bag or briefcase, but I believe that due to conventional positioning of handles, and differences of handle configurations in luggage and cases, that alternate possibility has extremely limited applicability. Besides, Russell does not disclose means for carrying more than two handles on different articles. My invention enables, with one hand, conveniently carrying two or more articles of luggage or cases having conventional, conventionally located handles.